what to expect
by thecivilunrest
Summary: When you're expecting. /Or, "Artemis looked up at him, grinned, said, "Wallman, you're going to be a dad. Congrats."


**Fandom: **Young Justice

**Story Title: "**What to Expect"

**Summary: ** When you're expecting. /Or, "Artemis looked up at him, grinned, said, "Wallman, you're going to be a dad. Congrats."

**Character/Relationship(s): **Wally West/Artemis Crock

**Rating: **T

**Warnings: **Language at the very end.

**Story Word Count: **3200+

**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything.

**Notes: **For Morgan for her birthday, which is today! Yay! This is total fluff and ridiculousness. I know I've been one of the people that has been saying NO to Wally and Artemis having babies, but this fic is different because they're older and married. So yeah. Enjoy Morgan bb. 33

_What to Expect_

**three **

When Wally got home Artemis was face down at the table, empty water bottles and long, small boxes scattered beside her. He'd seen her like this before: during long study sessions for classes that she hadn't liked, when she was particularly stressed about work, so he wasn't worried. It was only when he read the print on the boxes that his throat clogged up.

"Is there something that you need to tell me, A?" he asked. There was a mixture of emotions going through him—fear and joy and love and excitement and dread—and it's all he can do to keep his voice calm and even.

Artemis looked up at him, grinned, said, "Wallman, you're going to be a dad. Congrats."

He couldn't help it, he picked her up and spun her around, relishing in her surprised laughter. And then he kissed her, hard, and loved the way that he wasn't just holding one person now, but two.

When he pulled away and put her down she shrugged and said, "I know it was kind of unexpected, but. It happens."

"We've been married eighteen months," Wally scoffed. "And together for a lot longer than that. We'll be fine. We'll be the best parents a kid could ever ask for. I mean, we're young but we're not teenagers or anything."

"Nope," she agreed.

"And we'll have to tell our parents," he continued. "And get you to a doctor. How far along are you anyway? And then-" Artemis cut him off, putting a finger over his lips.

"We'll plan later," she told him. "But why can't we just celebrate first?"

.x.

To tell his parents, of course Wally had to have a big dinner planned. The food was take-out, neither of them could cook and neither of them ever attempted to pretend to try, but that didn't deter from the sense of _family _that Artemis always felt when she was around the Wests.

For a long time, Artemis was envious of that. Wally had what she had always wanted—a house, two parents that loved him, a family that supported him through everything and would never in a million years leave him willingly—and at times seemed to take it for granted.

But for the first time she realized that this could be her life too. Minus the whole 'being a hero' thing, of course, because that was something that she loved almost as much as Wally and her mother.

For the first time, the American dream, white picket fence and all, was within Artemis' reach.

The dinner was slow at first, Wally was just bouncing in his seat dying to spill the beans but they'd agreed to wait until desert, but when the time rolled around Wally looked like he was about to explode.

"Mom, Dad," he said, chest puffed out and Artemis couldn't help but smile at her absolutely ridiculous husband and how _happy _he was. She had been so revealed when she'd realized that he wasn't going to be upset about the fact that they had gotten a present earlier than they'd been expecting. Artemis was probably a surprise gift too, and she couldn't imagine her father being nearly as proud and happy as Wally was when he found out. "Artemis is pregnant. We found out for sure yesterday at the doctor's office." He reached out and squeezed her shoulder in a show of support, and she touched his hand.

"Oh that's great!" Mary West said, getting out of her seat to hug first Artemis and then Wally, Randy not far behind her. "Starting a family," her mother-in-law, said, tearing up. "You're both all grown up now. Congratulations. I'll have to call, well, everyone about this."

.x.

Telling Artemis' mother was a smaller affair, involving a bus trip to Gotham. Her mother's apartment was bare as always, but Wally still loved the place. Paula really adored him because he made her daughter so happy, and that was always nice.

"Mom," Artemis said, bending down and grabbing her mother's hands. "I'm pregnant."

For a moment there was only silence, and Wally twitched in response, before Paula smiled. It was a rare thing to grace her face, but when she did ten years fell off. "I am so happy, for both of you. You deserve all the happiness."

When she smiled a second time, quieter and less largely than the first, Wally knew that she was thinking of the daughter who had never told her in person.

.x.

Wally had wanted to be at the first sonogram. Insisted on it, actually. And now he was here, holding her hand, while the doctor squirted cold jelly on her stomach. Artemis couldn't see what was so exciting about the whole thing, really, until the doctor turned on the screen.

Faintly, _faintly, _there was the brown shape of something baby-like. With Artemis it took seeing to turn into believing, though she'd known that she was pregnant for week's now. The first doctor's visit had confirmed that.

"There's the head," the doctor said, pointing at a round shaped object on the screen. "And there's the foot." Wally squeezed her hand and she squeezed back, hard. "It's too early to tell whether or not it's going to be a boy or a girl. You can come back soon enough for that, though."

The doctor just smiled and Artemis pulled down Wally to kiss his face before looking at her _baby_, her _child_ again.

"It looks like a bean," Wally said, with wonder and Artemis had to turn around to look at him, eyebrow raised. "_What? _It _does_."

"Our baby isn't a _bean_," she protested. "He or she isn't something that you can eat. They're something precious." And she was.

Of course, as soon they got home, Wally was blurting out factoids.

"The baby's head is the biggest part of their body," he recited. "It's about half the size of the rest of them."

"Where are you getting this from?" Artemis asked, and when he sheepishly put something behind his back, she knew. "Oh, God. Do _not _tell me that you're reading _What to Expect When You're Expecting_. _Please_."

"Hey, we need to keep informed," he protested. "I'm a biology major but I didn't specialize in stuff like this."

"You giant dork," Artemis laughed. "Just throw it away. We aren't going to need it."

**six **

"He's kicking," Artemis complained from the couch.

"She, you mean," Wally corrected. Of course, he didn't really care if the baby was a boy or a girl, but they had refused to know for sure. Artemis was certain that the baby was going to be a boy, though, so Wally said girl just to be contrary. "And of course she is. She's practicing running."

"Help us if _he _has your superspeed. Could you imagine trying to chase around a toddler that's the speed of lightening? My feet ache just thinking about it."

"Your feet ache now," Wally said, putting Artemis' feet in his lap to rub them. They were likely sore now—her ankles were swollen and she'd had killer night sickness in the earlier days—so he began rubbing them, causing Artemis to moan.

"Oh, thank you," she moaned again. "He's still kicking, if you want to feel."

Wally grinned, because he did love feeling his son or daughter kick. It was the only connection that he had with them, out in the open. The rest was for Artemis and Artemis alone. There was a faint fluttering, it felt like butterfly wings really, but other than that nothing.

"Ugh, whoever is inside there they've woken up and they're not going to go back to sleep," she groused, adjusting her weight on the couch so that she could get more comfortable. "They'll kick forever now."

"Probably not forever. I mean, they have to come out sometime?" He was half expecting the pillow to the side of the face.

"You suck. You don't even know what it's like having your body being taken over like this. I have hemorrhoids now, for Christ's sake."

He frowned. "Ugh. Ex-nay on the hemorrhoid-ay please. That is something that I really don't need to know about."

"And I have to pee, _all the time_. You might have to buy me and the baby diapers, soon."

"Better than tampons."

"Ugh, you suck," Artemis said again. "But I love you, and them, anyway."

.x.

"I am starting to _really _ think that we should start looking at baby names," Wally started, again, waving a big and thick book of names and their meanings in front of her face.

"And I am _really_ starting to think that you need to give up on that, because I already know the names that I want to pick from," Artemis said, shoving the book away. "And don't worry, none of them are _Rudolph_."

Wally placed a hand on his heart in dramatic hurt. "Oh, you wound me. I guess you're still not going to tell me what names you're thinking about?"

"Definitely not. That was our deal, remember? I carry the baby, I get to name them. Case _closed_."

"But just the insinuation that my names aren't good enough..."

"Wally. Your name is _Wally_. You were named after a reindeer. One of Santa's reindeer."

"Well you were named after a goddess. So what?"

"I'm not naming the baby after me either! You'll just have to be surprised, I guess." Just like everyone else, Artemis mused, because she hadn't told anyone. Superpeople were the biggest gossips, and she knew that if she let slip what names she was contemplating somehow, someway, it would circle back to Wally.

"Fine," he grumbled. "But remember, I have final say when you're too drugged up on painkillers to remember which way is up. Or do you want a natural birth?"

This was an old argument too, and she rolled her eyes. "I really don't care what all your stupid pregnancy books, which, by the way I _haven't even read _but I'm still doing fine, say. I am not going through a natural birth. You've seen those movies, right? The ones back in the olden days with the women screaming? That is _not _going to be me. No sir. Not _ever_."

.x.

"Our baby is about a pound right about now," Wally informed Artemis. Because really. This was just something that she _had _to know.

He honestly liked knowing the facts that he threw out at her, though, even though he knew that it annoyed her endlessly. It made him feel safer, like he had some kind of security about the fact that their son or daughter was only three months away from joining the world at large.

"Wally, seriously. _Throw those books away_. You're killing me here."

"I can think of something that's more fun to do than trotting out facts."

"What?"

"We can make-out," he said, grinning at her. Two words: heightened sex drive. It'd been driving him crazy. Or, at least, Artemis had been.

"Will it get you to shut up?" she asked.

He pretended to think about it. "Probably."

"Well get over here, geek of my life. Let's do this thing."

.x.

Nighttime had always been a weakness, for her. Maybe it was the cover of darkness, the fact that she couldn't see anyone's face. Maybe it was because when they shared a room, this was the time of night that she had Jade had bared their souls to each other, however childish the secrets might have been then.

"Wally," Artemis shook his arm, trying to get him awake. A noise came out of the back of his throat, but he kept on snoring. "_Wally_."

"What, babe?" he asked, voice thick with sleep as he rolled over. "It's three in the morning. What's up?" He yawned, loud and expressive.

She hesitated. The question sounded better in her head, but she just. She had to ask somebody, and she knew that Wally would tell her the truth. He would _always _tell her the truth. That was one of the things that she loved about him.

"What if I'm not a good mom? I'm not worried about you, of course, everyone knows that you're going to be a great dad. One of the good ones for sure. But me..." she paused, biting her lip and knowing that she was rambling. "I mean, Mom was gone for a long time with me. And I've never really had a whole family, not really, and I just. _I don't want to mess this up_."

"Trust me," Wally yawned again, kissing her forehead before bringing her closer to him. She could hear his heart beat, in rhythm with hers, and that comforted her. "Even if you tried you couldn't do it. You're going to be a great mom. You're going to make _killer _peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, you're going to be able to yell at them if they're doing something wrong and comfort them if something bad happens to them. You'll be the one having to scare the monster out from underneath the bed, and the one checking the closets at night. _You're going to be great," _he promised, and she believed him.

**nine**

"You are not _seriously _playing _You're Having My Baby, _are you? And the Glee cast version too. I swear, you are the lamest husband alive."

"But I'm yours," he said, leaning over the crib they were attempting to assemble and leaving a raspberry on her cheek.

"The one and only," she smiled, and then the baby kicked.

Artemis could not wait to have the baby, at this point. She was cranky and irritable and uncomfortable more than what could be considered fair. It was typical that this sort of thing was a woman's job. Men wouldn't be able to handle it.

She'd talked to her mother over the phone about all of this, about pregnancy and the like, and Paula had just laughed and told her pregnancy horror stories that let Artemis know that she was _lucky_. And she had a supportive husband to boot, which really did make everything better.

But. Being pregnant sucked. She couldn't wait to pop the baby out and be able to hold them in her arms.

They still had no idea if it was a boy or a girl, even though Wally had been hinting for months now that he wanted to know. But she knew that if he knew he'd want to tell her—he'd be bursting with the information, unable to keep it to himself. So it was better that he didn't know, really. Even if he didn't see it that way.

"It's a good thing that the crib's instructions were in Vietnamese," Wally said, tongue sticking out when he put two of the pieces together. They seemed like they fit, and that was enough for Artemis. They had been working on this for three hours now. "I can understand pretty much every other word."

"If you would just let _me _look at them..."

"No," Wally protested. "I've got this."

Of course he did.

.x.

"I want to go for a walk," Artemis informed Wally after dinner. "Walking induces labor, and I have some labor that I want to be inducing. Badly."

"Then let's go do some inducing," he agreed, pulling on his hat and grabbing her hand.

It took them a while to get to the front sidewalk, but they got there eventually. The fact that she had to walk slowly frustrated Artemis to no end, but she couldn't help it. She had a pretty much fully formed baby incubating—her word, not his—in her body and there was no other way to go.

"It's a nice day to go into labor, don't you think?" Artemis asked, pulling away from him to put her hands on her back.

"If that's what you want." The hospital bag was packed and at the front door, the way it had been since Artemis had hit the half-way point of her eighth month. Nothing was going to go to chance, not on his watch.

"I can't wait to hold them, whoever they are," she said, and Wally agreed.

He couldn't wait either. He'd spent nine months on the outside of everything, not even knowing about the baby until the third month, so he couldn't wait for things to become up close and personal.

Wally had heard the bad stories, ones about being up at four in the morning for feedings and being exhausted and terrible twos. His mother had told he and Artemis every embarrassing story about Wally as a baby that there ever was, and then some ones that would scare the pants right off a weaker man.

There was a reason that they had stopped at one, his mother had said.

He wasn't planning on stopping at one, even though he had yet to have any at all. That was not something to tell Artemis, though, because the one time that he had tried she had almost fried his eyebrows off his face. Not one of his best days.

"Me neither," he said. "Maybe we should walk faster?"

.x.

Her back had been hurting all day. At first it was just a slight pain, hardly worth noticing. She'd had worse injuries on the job and thought that it was just natural. The pains had been coming for weeks now on and off, and the doctor said that it was just her body preparing for labor.

That had been all that Artemis had thought it was, until they started ripping through her.

And then, her water broke. Or she had just peed herself, but she was really, really hoping that it was the former.

"Wally," she called, hoping that her husband could hear her. "I'm leaking!"

He rushed over to her, like she knew that he would. Thank God for superspeed, and all that jazz. "How far apart are the contractions?" he asked, and she knew that he was running a checklist through all of those stupid _What to Expect When You're Expecting _books that he'd been obsessing over.

"I don't know, I haven't timed them yet," Artemis managed to get out before gasping in pain. "Okay, there was one."

Wally looked down at his ever present watch, and when she gasped again he said, "How long have you been in labor?"

"I don't know," she panted, because that hurt like a _bitch_. Shit.

"Well your contractions are four minutes apart. So it's time to go."

Artemis didn't have time to revel in the wonder of it, to exclaim about the fact that her child was coming into the world, because another contraction hit.

Everything was almost over, now.


End file.
